Brevard County is located along 70 miles of the pristine Atlantic Coastline known as the Space Coast and centrally located in the state. According to the Florida Public Health Institute; 10,767 adults visited emergency departments in Brevard County between 2008 and 2010. Statistics in Brevard County indicate that 16.3% of the adult population did not seek dental treatment due to cost. In addition, the unemployment rate has risen to 9.5%, which further diminishes the health care dollar. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) reports that emergency department (ED) visits have been increasing in numbers since 1996. It also states that low income adults are more likely to pursue treatment from an ED for dental related issues rather than a private practice dental office due to cost, in turn causing longer wait times and overcrowding. A recent PEW report indicates that more than 115,000 dental-related ED cases were reported in Florida in 2010. These dental-related ED visits produced more than $88 million dollars in charges, most of which were uncompensated. Since June 2011, the Florida Department of Health (FDOH) in Brevard County and its Adult Dental Program have worked closely with local hospitals to establish an alternative to ED visits for dental patients. The ED diversion dental program is a referral based program for individuals who present to an ED with acute dental pain, needing emergent treatment by a dentist. Once these individuals are treated by a dentist, targeting the source of the problem, there is no longer a need for repeat visits to an ED. Dental problems generally begin small, but due to the inability to pay for services, the problems are left untreated until there is no other recourse but the ED for immediate assistance. In the past, individuals would be placed on antibiotics to keep the problem temporarily under control. The patient would then be sent home, only to have the problem return again in a matter of weeks, thereby causing them to return to the ED for additional assistance. Now there is an alternative solution; when a patient seeks help from a local ED for a dental issue, they are given a prescription for antibiotics and a referral to the dentist at the FDOH in Brevard County. Through the ED dental program, these individuals receive an appointment to be treated by a dentist who can treat the source of the problem, consequently stopping return ED visits for dental related issues. Our primary goal was to create a program where individuals could receive dental treatment thereby avoiding return visits to local EDs for dental pain. Planned services include intervention, evaluation and treatment of acute dental issues. In addition, this enables us to reduce the need for the underinsured dental patient to seek relief from self-medication, which may lead to long term drug dependency and continued emergency department visits. Prior to treating patients, the decision was made to utilize existing FDOH staff from our children’s dental program; i.e. dental assistants, dentists, medical records personnel and clerical support staff. Treatment will be based through-out FDOH in Brevard County clinic locations; Melbourne, Rockledge and occasionally Viera. The ED diversion dental program added $20,000 annual revenue to the FDOH in Brevard County, saving approximately $185,000 of non-collectable revenue to hospitals per year and an estimated 500 hours of valuable Emergency Department time